Says the woman still a frustrating 50 pages away from the end of Set This House in Order.

Did you ever get to read the chunk that was missing from your copy?

Nope. If I remember, I'll bring it with me next time I go to Moe's and ask for a trade-in.

It is, however, very good, and I recommend it. Despite the subject matter (the two main characters both have multiple personalities as a result of prolonged and appalling abuse as children), it's not depressing. It's oddly hopeful, very creative, and suspenseful. I'm liking it a lot.

so therefore is her bio-grandfather

Bio-father, I think. Squicky even for Andrews.

And thanks, Aimee. I was conflatiing Tom and Logan, and I had entirely forgotten Troy.

Is Logan the rich boy in the 1st book?

Bio-father, I think. Squicky even for Andrews.

Yes, that's what I meant.

Is Logan the rich boy in the 1st book?

Yup, he's the son of the owner of the drugstore.

I was going to say that, disturbingly, the only thing on the best seller list I've read is The Notebook.

But that's not true, it was Message in a Bottle. I have nothing to say in my defense. I was at the beach with my ex SIL and my brother were there and she gave me the book, so out of obligation I read it.

I'm taking notes on all the smart/interesting things you guys are posting about V.C. Andrews to take to book group on Friday!

I just got two books in the mail today-- Connie Willis' Doomsday Book (which somebody rec'd here) and Michael Chabon's children's book Summerland (hardcover on super sale for $7). WHEE! NEW BOOKS!!!

I guess she [Oprah] does do them still. I thought she had stopped.

She did stop. She recently started again, although differently. I never was involved with the Oprah stuff, although she did provide quite a boost for libraries. Anna Karenina is a wonderful book, though. It's long, but absorbing. It would qualify for a beach book if one were spending the whole summer at the beach. I imagine that the translation would make a difference. I read it for college, but it was one of my "fun" books, unlike much of the other Russian fiction. Brothers Karamazov anyone? Fascinating, but depressing as hell.

12 ANNA KARENINA, by Leo Tolstoy.

13 *THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, by Sue Monk Kidd.

I've read these, although AK was way back in college (and in translation). I remember AK being suprisingly soap-opera-ish, in a good way. There was a lot of concern with Anna's mental and emotional states, and with her relationships, and once I bought into caring about them the book pretty much flew by.

The Secret Life of Bees is pretty good. It's set in the 1960s, in the US southeast. There is a Perky White Girl who learns the True Meaning of Life through Friendship with People of Color in the Midst of the the Civil Rights Movement. But once I got past the clichés I found the secondary characters interesting and the plot pretty good. There were a couple of places where the author could have taken an easy way out and didn't.

Michael Chabon's children's book Summerland

I'm really embarassed to admit that, though I bought Summerland in November (it's still on my TBR pile), I didn't realize until right this moment that it's a children's book. I mean, that doesn't diminish my eagerness to read it -- I love children's books. But I guess I thought that, since it was such a big book, it had to be a big-people book.

But I guess I thought that, since it was such a big book, it had to be a big-people book.

You know I don't usually make much of a distinction and all it says on the cover is that it's "A NOVEL" but the publisher is "Hyperion Books for Children." And i thought i remembered it written about as a children's book.